Jared Knabenbauer (ProJared)
Jared Knabenbauer, better known by his Internet alias ProJared, is an American comedian, video game reviewer, and Internet personality. He is known for his YouTube webseries ProJared, in which he reviews video games of varying genres in a fast, retrospective, and comedic manner. He is a former member of NormalBoots. About Jared's Internet career began at the age of 21 with the launch of his YouTube channel "DMJared" on November 20, 2006. He later changed his username to "ProJared" to maintain a brand across multiple platforms, in addition to launching his webseries of the same name. His channel is composed of discussions regarding video games. In joining YouTube before the cultural revolution it spawned, Jared was able gain a foothold in the video game market, establishing an online media presence. He began publishing videos on his own YouTube channel in 2010, four years after creating it. His early ProJared videos included reviews of some arguably derided and unfamiliar titles; examples being Two Worlds, Two Worlds II, Drake of the 99 Dragons, and Hydlide. Jared spent most of his formative years in various theatre companies in and around his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Looking to build up some financial security, he took a job at GameStop as a Retail Store Manager. His experiences in this position would provide fodder for his eventual ScrewAttack Series, Nametags. Having published the videos to ScrewAttack in 2008, this would be a fruitful venture. As the Series led to him being Hired as Store Manager for GameAttack in 2009. This would lead to Jared moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area the same year, where he resided May 2016. Due to declining to renew their lease on the property, GameAttack was closed in 2011. Jared became a full time content producer for ScrewAttack as a result. After he was formally hired by ScrewAttack, he became host of Hard News and co-host of SideScrollers. He also wrote episodes of Video Game Vault and Top Tens. His final project at ScrewAttack was Newsroom. Between 2010 and 2012, Jared juggled both his YouTube Channel and his ScrewAttack commitments with success, until the release of "How to Make Slender not Scary" ''on August 3, 2012. This video would become a viral success for Jared's YouTube Channel, bringing a substantial amount of attention to his own work. This led to conflict between Jared and ScrewAttack, resulting in Jared's dismissal from the company two months later. While working at ScrewAttack, Jared wasted no time in taking the opportunity to get to know the NormalBoots team, creating business and personal relationships with many of its members. Jared joined NormalBoots in its 2014 reboot, alongside Satchbag's Goods. On April 4, 2019, NormalBoots was alerted to allegations of inappropriate conduct pertaining to Jared. The allegations were made public following Jared's announcement on May 8, 2019, that he had filed for divorce from prominent cosplayer, Heidi O'Ferrall. On May 9, 2019, NormalBoots announced that the company mutually agreed to part ways with Jared.https://twitter.com/NormalBoots/status/1126616736675983360/photo/1 YouTube Shows ProReview Jared's main show is his ProReview series. This show has Jared make a review about a game that he has a history with, whether good or bad. He usually tries to find out why he loved or hated the game. In his earlier videos, he began each episode with a "cold opening", and starting with a catchphrase "I'm playing ". He stopped using the catchphrase, as he felt that the joke had run its course. He ends each episode with a non-traditional score out of 10, which comes from a metaphor or play on words. One Minute Review In addition, Jared also made a series of short rapid-videos discussing the importance and rating of a certain game, this series was aptly titled ''One Minute Review. This series would be discontinued after a change in the YouTube monetization strategy. Nuzlocke One of the most pivotal Let's Play series on Jared's channel was of his Nuzlocke playthrough of Pokémon: Fire Red. The series lasted for 36 episodes, with Jared defeating the Elite Four in the final episode. The success of the series encouraged the launch of ProJared Plays!, Jared's gameplay channel. References Category:Former Normal Boots Members